Life in jail for trio who raped woman in car before selling her into prostitution

Men each raped the Filipina in back seat before taking her to a prostitution den, where another man raped her before she managed to escape.

DUBAI // Three men charged with kidnapping and raping a woman before selling her to a prostitution ring have been given life sentences at Dubai Criminal Court.

The court convicted Bangladeshis M A, 30, and A J, 33, who were arrested at Sharjah Airport, of rape, kidnap, robbery and human trafficking. A third suspect, also Bangladeshi, remains at large and was sentenced in his absence.

On December 21, 2014, 32-year-old Filipina A D was waiting for a taxi in Al Quoz when a car stopped and the driver offered her a lift to Motor City in return for cash.

The woman got into the back seat and, shortly after, the driver stopped at a petrol station and picked up two men.

The woman was then molested by one of the men. She offered them her money to let her go but the three took turns raping her in the car.

The men stole A D’s phone and money before driving to a villa where A D said she “found another victim, also Filipina, locked up there”.

A D managed to escape from the villa and hid under a lorry that night. In the morning she asked a passer-by for help, and he called the police. They tracked down the men who “confessed to raping the woman and said they sold her for Dh3,000,” said policeman M A.

The defendants will be deported after serving terms, which in the UAE is 25 years.